


Pure Perfection

by Sephirotha



Series: Final Fantasy XIV Collection [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22586092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephirotha/pseuds/Sephirotha
Summary: The Eighth Umbral Calamity struck and instead of dying, the Warrior of Light is captured and confined by an Ascian who will suffer no more delays in restoring his brethren.
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Warrior of Light
Series: Final Fantasy XIV Collection [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622137
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	Pure Perfection

The metal doors sliding back broke the eerie silence in the underground facility, deep in the heart of Garlemald. The darkened room was illuminated only by the plethora of lights on the control panels which surrounded a large tube with glowing turquoise fluid. Encased was a woman in naught but her smallclothes. Her body bobbed up and down steadily, her eyes were closed, and she seemed relaxed as if she was sleeping.

A gloved hand pressed itself to the glass.

“Ah, my dearest, I hope you haven’t been alone for long.”

Emet-Selch’s lips quirked a little as he gazed up at the Warrior of Light.

“Chaos truly reigns in the world above us. Such panic, such discord. Cultures and civilizations crumbled in just…” He snapped his fingers. “…like that. If you dared venture up to the dissonance that is left of your home, you would be wrought with despair.”

The woman didn’t react. Her captor tilted his head, pushing himself off the glass and wandering the room. His eyes drifted over the consoles and wires that hooked themselves to the warrior. When he glanced up at her, he caught a faint smile.

“Ah, do you dream, sweetest?” he asked as he approached her. “Of what, I wonder? The fleeting moments of joy you shared with your comrades? The bittersweet memories of your unfragmented, imperfect world?” A sentimental smile crossed his features. “I wonder if it’s possible for you to remember us.”

He walked closer, his smile widening just a fraction.

“Ah. I thought something was a little different. I daresay, you’ve gained some height from the last fragment restored to you. And your soul…it is brighter. Soon, you’ll be complete.” He sighed quietly, reaching out to her. “My purest Persephone.”

His smile faltered when the woman’s face fell, a soft frown marring her fair face. He curled his hand into a fist.

“You still don’t like that name? Perhaps your soul does still remember our trials and tribulations. I know I do, after all this eternity. Yes, I still remember that forsaken day when you abandoned us, abandoned _me_!” He turned his back. “How easily you cast us aside, casting me aside, throwing away your name for an ugly, false identity! Do you really think we were really entitled to our salvation without having to give anything up?”

He turned back to her with a hardened glare. “It could have been anyone to summon that wretched Mothercrystal. Why did it have to be you? Sacrifice after sacrifice but the one thing I wouldn’t have ever given up was you! We could have been _happy_! Whole and perfect in _our_ world! But you were too scared, Persephone! Too scared to face the reality that everything comes for a price!”

He bowed his head, his fist shaking. “But all of this? These pathetic fragments with weak souls that wander about their insignificant lives with nary a care in the world? Is this truly worth the destruction of our home? This isn’t living as much as it is just existing.” He lifted his head back to her sleeping face. “You wouldn’t remember what we were like. What we were. What we had planned before the Final Days. A final fantasy that we shared before the Sundering, before Zodiark…”

His face distorted into one with disgust. “I searched for you. Perhaps I could find a way to restore you and mayhap we could learn to coexist in the aftermath. Yet the fragments I found had me left wanting.

Do not get me wrong, sweetest, I tried to overlook the glaring imperfections. Whenever I did find a fragment that was you, it wasn’t quite you. You may have shared some values or traits but that didn’t mean it was you. I broke bread with them, I lived with them, I sired children with them. But it was meaningless. All these hopes and dreams we had, I tried living them with these pathetic souls, but it meant naught.

All this time, it should have been you to behold my embrace, not these pieces scattered across the worlds! And now…now that you’re so close to becoming whole, becoming mine again…”

Emet-Selch drew in a shaky breath, running his hand through his hair. He approached the tank and rested his forehead on the glass, the third eye clinking upon impact.

“Five more rejoinings,” he murmured. “Five more calamities. Five more fragments…and we can pick up from where we started. I promise, my beloved, everything we planned for our future, we can fulfill.

But for now, sleep. You will be safe from the calamities here. And when you’re restored and whole, I will come for you. Do not despair, I will visit you. I’ll keep you updated on everything.”

Emet-Selch smirked as he backed away.

“Until next time, my purest Persephone.”

With flourish, he spun on his heel and left the woman alone. His footsteps faded, leaving the only sounds to be the quiet whir of machines and bubbling of the fluid that contained the Warrior of Light.

She frowned.

* * *

_“Ah, it was Persephone, wasn’t it?” Persephone cringed a little as she lifted her gaze from the faun in her lap to look up at Hades. “Oh, I’m sorry, did I get it wrong?”_

_“No, no,” Persephone shook her head. “I just never liked it.”_

_“Why ever not?” Hades asked as he sat next to her in the meadow._

_Persephone sighed as she stroked the faun, looking up at the blue skies above them. “It’s too long.”_

_“That matters not. It is a wonderful name that captures your beauty effortlessly.”_

_The maiden half-chuckled, half-sighed, shaking her head with a disappointed look. “Hades, your silver tongue isn’t going to win me over if that’s the best you can come up with.”_

_“Nay, I didn’t come with the intention to woo you,” Hades waved the notion away. “I wanted to applaud you on your lecture today. It was enlightening.”_

_“That makes one of you.”_

_“Do not take Lahabrea’s words to heart. His interests lie in other fields. I, on the other hand, am intrigued by the issue you have brought our attention to.”_

_Persephone sighed once more, looking around the flora surrounding them._

_Plants were starting to die prematurely, and she wanted to look further into what was causing it and if it could be stopped._

_Hades looked at the faun in her lap and reached out for it. It shied away, shivering and burying its face into Persephone’s bosom. She cradled it closer._

_“Don’t,” she murmured as she petted its head. “It’s afraid.”_

_“Of me?”_

_“Of death.” Hades drew back as Persephone rocked the faun back and forth. “It ate…one of the afflicted plants and now…”_

_“It doesn’t seem ill.”_

_“Just wait.”_

_Persephone’s eyes filled with tears as she kept rocking, humming under her breath. A few minutes later, she froze as the faun finally let out its last breath. She began trembling as Hades reached to place his hand on her shoulder._

_“Why?” she whispered. “Just a young, innocent creature who…was walking their first steps not a few days ago…”_

_She sniffed as she hugged the dead faun, tears rolling down her cheeks. Hades drew her closer, hugging her whilst rubbing her back._

_“So pure. Persephone…”_

* * *

Tears disappeared into the liquid around the warrior.


End file.
